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Trade Secrets

Prices are up, so everyone is looking for ways to reduce energy consumption and conserve what's left. You can help your customers do both, using the guidelines promoted by a new initiative.

Have you ever taken a moment to watch the street vendors in any major city? I have, and have often marveled at the vendors who work the streets of New York City. They seem to know just where to position themselves to get the maximum exposure to potential buyers, what kind of merchandise to offer and when to pack up and leave in a hurry.

I've noticed they also seem to have learned a very basic marketing concept: When it's raining, sell umbrellas.

Obviously, we're in the midst of a gasoline crisis, which falls under the umbrella term (pardon the pun) energy crisis. Your customers are worried about fuel prices and the fuel they burn in their cars. Short of buying a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, they may feel there's nothing they can do to reduce the amount of money they're spending on fuel, and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions their vehicles produce.

Here is a golden opportunity for you to "sell umbrellas"-to capitalize on the motoring public's concerns. You are, for most drivers, the closest thing to a fuel economy expert they'll ever meet. You can help guide your customers toward better fuel economy and a reduced carbon footprint by offering your expertise on ways to save on fuel.

I'm sure you know the basics, but you might find it helpful to take a look at the EcoDriving initiative, a national effort to help drivers achieve the highest gas mileage available from every vehicle on the road, regardless of size and age. The program was established by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade association of ten car and light truck manufacturers: BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen.

The program's website, www.ecodrivingusa.com, offers a number of suggestions to help you promote yourself as a fuel economy advisor. There are posters, flyers, editorials and lots of stuff that will get your customers thinking about what they can do to save fuel. An important part of the EcoDriving program is presented in 12 Maintenance Practices tips for drivers.

The tips range from reading the owner's manual and adhering to its recommended service schedules (tip No. 1) to considering buying fuel-efficient tires (No. 12), which offer lower rolling resistance, and a bunch of stuff in between. For example, tip No. 3 urges drivers to have periodic engine tuneups, which can improve fuel mileage 4% on average. We all know that, thanks to longer life spark plugs, car owners have a tendency to assume their engines never need a tuneup.

Tip No. 4 suggests replacing a vehicle's air filter regularly. Tip No. 5 reminds drivers that checking a vehicle's tire pressure monthly can make a significant difference in fuel economy. In fact, the Dept. of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of America's fleet riding on underinflated tires.

Some of the tips offered we've talked about for years and some are relatively new. As a skilled technician, you probably have some ideas of your own to add to the list.

You'd be wise to seize the opportunity to promote your shop as the place where car owners can actually do more than curse the darkness when it comes to improving fuel economy. Write up a simple press release and send it to your local newspaper and radio station. Small, local papers eat up editorial that offers readers ways to help save the environment. Print out a copy of the free manual offered on the website for ideas for your press release.

The ten automakers previously mentioned have teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund to promote the EcoDriving initiative, and have made California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger their spokesperson. (California and Colorado are the first states to support the EcoDriving initiative.) One of the key elements of EcoDriving is that it will also reduce the amount of CO2 emissions while reducing fuel costs. Experts estimate that if just half of all Americans followed even moderate EcoDriving practices, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 100 million tons, or the equivalent of heating and powering 8.5 million households. And if all Americans were EcoDrivers, it would be equal to 450 billion miles of vehicle travel without generating any CO2 emissions.

You can support the EcoDriving program by simply going to the website and printing out the Maintenance Practices brochure. Give one to every customer with their final invoice. Print out the colorful posters the website offers free of charge and post them in your waiting room and on the front window. The website also offers a way for the user to calculate his potential CO2 savings if he adopted EcoDriving techniques.

One of the fun parts of the website is a section where a person can go on a virtual road test. It's a great way to get young drivers interested in EcoDriving. If you have the room, you could set up a computer in your waiting room so customers could test their ability to drive in a way that best reduces fuel consumption.

The Trade Secret is to seize every opportunity to promote your expertise and sell your services. Offering your customers fuel-saving advice and services is smart business. Environmentally concerned customers will respect you for your efforts to reduce CO2 emissions while at the same time saving them money at the pump. Selling reduced fuel consumption is in your and your customers' best interest, and you'll have the assurance of knowing that you're doing your part to get us through the current gas crisis. And it sure beats actually selling umbrellas, even in the rain.